Check-row corn-planter



(No Medel.)

e. WOODWARD.

- CHECK ROW CORN PLANTBR. l 30.292,273. e Patented Jee..22, 11884.

VN, PEYRi Phowumagnphu. wesniugnm D. c1

ANDERSON WOODWARD, OF CAMERON, ASSIGNOR OF ONETHALF TO V.

PORTER, OF MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS.

CHECK-Row CORN-PLANTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.

292,273, dated January 22, 1884.

' Application tiled October-26, 1883. (No model.)

.To (ri wfwm, if) 711,04/ concern:l l

`Be it known that I, ANDERsoN WooDwARD, of Cameron, in the county ofWarren and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Check-Row Corn-Planters; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to4make and use IO it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form part of this specification. My invention relates to animprovement in check-row corn-planters; and it consists, iirst,

in the combination of the shaft which operates I 5 the seed-slides, ofsuitable arms attached thereto, jointed slides which pass verticallythrough the seed-box, and a spring-actuated cut-off which-pressesagainst the lower end of the slide; second, inthe pivotedlevers foroperating the lever which operates the seed-slides, each lever beingprovided with fingers which are adapted to open, and a suitable slottedguide through which thengers pass, therslides being widest at their rearends, as will be more fully described hereinafter. j

The obj et of my Vinvention is to so construct the fingers attached tothe operating-levers that they will open and allow the balls or stopsupon the rope to pass freely through them, and to so construct the slidethat it will be easily operated and always reliable inV operation. j

Figure I represents a plan view of a portion of a machine which embodiesmyiuvention.

, Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, partly in section. Fig. 3 is adetached view of one of the levers.

A represents the frame; B, the seed-box, which is placed thereon. Thisbox is placed 4o directly over. the seed-conductor C, in the usualmanner, and has a slot, D, cut through its bottom, so that the corn willfall directly into the conductor instead of being fed into the conductorby means of aslide, as heretofore. Pivoted in the conductor isa cut-off,E, which has its lower end pressed against the side of the conductor bymeans of a suitable spring, F. The corn drops into the conductor andrests upon the top of the cut-off. The 5o slide G moves verticallythrough the seed-box and the conductor, and is made in two pieces, whichare joined together. To the upper piece is looselyattached anarrn orlever, H, which extends backward from'the operating-shaft I. As this armhas a curved movement, and would cause the slide to have more or less ofa curved movement, the slide is made in two parts, as here shown, sothat only the upper portion will be affected by the circular movement ofthe arm. In the rear side of the lower part of 6o the slide is madeasuitable cup, which receives the grains of corn, and which holds themuntil the slide is forced downward by themovement of the arm, when thegrains `of corn drop from the cup into the furrow.

The operating-shaft I extends across the front of the machine in the`usual manner, and has attached to each of its ends an operatinglever, J.These levers J are connected to a second set of levers, L, which arepivoted at their rear corners in the same manner, and these levers J Lare connected together at their inner ends by means of a pin, N, and arecess, O, or in any other suitable manner, so that they will alwaysmove in opposite directions. Loosely attached to the upper ends of theselevers are the :fingers P, which Aare always held in line with eachother by means of the parallel guides Q, which are` secured to the upperend of each lever. These guides prevent the fingers from moving in aline with the levers J L, but allow the fingers a lateral movement, forthe purpose of enabling the balls or stops on the ropes or chains topass freely between them. These lingers project upward through the slotsR in the guides S, the slots being made widest at their rear ends. Thenarrow or front portion of the slots are just wide Y enough to hold thefingers closely together, so

that the balls or stops upon the rope or wire which is stretched acrossthe field, would not slip through between them. The wide ends of theslots allow the fingers to open outward farv enough to allow the ballsor stops to slip freely between them when the levers have been moved farenough to operate the seed-slide. The rope or wire, with its balls orstops, passes through the vertical portion of the guide U and backthrough the spaces between the lingers. lWhen a ball or stop comes incontact with the lfront roc ICA pair of fingers, the lever J is causedto oscillate the operating-shaft I, as it moves backward, and then whenthe iingers reach the wide portion of the slots, they are iorced apartby the pressure of the ball or stop until the ball or stop `can slipfreely between them. \Vhen this ball or stop7 which has just slippedbetween the front fingers, strikes the rear ones, it forces the lever Lbackward, and this lever L, in turning upon its pivot, forces the leverJ forward, so that the fingers will be ready to catch the next ball orstop.

Heretofore there hasbcen more or less tro uble in having the balls orstops to slip oil from the levers or iingers at just the proper pointwit-hout causing too much friction. In order to do away with thisbinding of the balls or stops upon the levers, the iingers are here madeto open atj ust the proper time, so as to let the balls or stops slip"freely between them without the slightest trouble, Each ball or stopupon the rope or chain operates each seed-slide, so as to cause it todrop. The upper end of the slide in each seed-box will be boxed orcovered over, so as to prevent the grains of corn from working throughthe slot through which the arms or levers on thc operating-shaft pass.

Having thus described my invention, I claiml. In a corn-planter, thecombination of the operating-shaft, the arms or levers connectedthereto, a vertically-moving slide, a pivoted cut-oii, the spring forforcing the lower end of the cut-oft' against the slide, and theseed-con- 3 5 ductor, which is connected by a slot with the seed-box,substantially as shown.

2. The combination of the operating-shaft,

4. The combination of the guide, provided with slots which are widest attheir rear ends, with the operating-levers provided with Iingers, andguides to keep the fingers in a line with each other, the ngers beingadapted to open outward, to let the balls or stops pass through when theiingers reach the wide ends of the slots, substantially as spec-ined.

In testimony whereof I afiix my si gnature in presence of two witnesses.

ANDERSON VOODWARD.

\Vitnesses:

E. C. LINN, Jos. W. D ivmsox

